Bliss

Yet again, i brought my gf for dinner on this day. This time at a location much closer to home. This restaurant has been featured on television before for its unique location and quality of its food. The program raved about its food but i've never been a believer of commercial reviews so its more or less my own thoughts right here. For starters, i liked the environment and the view. The location is quiet and though there were quite a few people there, it didn't come across as packed as there were plenty of leg space for everyone which is what i like.

(Bliss Special) Crab meat soup - My gf ordered a bliss special meal which consisted of a soup, main course and a dessert. All for $13.90 which was quite a shock for me as the price was rather low for what i envisioned to be a medium priced location. I was however, soon to realise why it could come at such a price. The crab meat soup they served was not unlike the broth used in shark's fin soup. It had little pieces of carrot, radish, some crab meat and quite a bit of pepper. Nothing amazing but what do you expect for the price eh?

Stella Artois ($7.50) - Our drink for the day. A word of caution, the place DOES NOT SERVE cold water. So you MUST buy a drink. On further notice, i realise the place serves a pretty decent selection of wine, mostly old world wines at a pretty hefty price. If my memory serves me well, it does not serve wine by the glass. @ $7.50 a bottle, it does strike me as rather expensive for a simple beer but i may just be a miser. =P

Baked Seafood Rice ($14.90) - My main course of the day. It was a rather large serving so that earns it plus points. Beneath the thick layer of cheese contains 2 medium sized prawns, 2 huge mussels and assorted pieces of fish interlaced with the rice. Not to mention the 2 squid rings you see on top. To be honest, i was rather excited when i got my dish. It smelled great and i love tomato based stuff, be it pasta or rice. And looking at the huge serving with the ingredients they offered just made my mouth water. However, it looks better then it tastes honestly, so that really disappointed me. Don't get me wrong, the rice was great and so was the cheese layer but the crucial part of its seafood just didn't quite cute it for me. The prawns were moderately fresh but the mussel and squid ring couldn't be called good which is such a waste considering the nicely done rice. Overall, this is passable but the seafood alone was not worth the money.

(Bliss Special) Smoked Salmon Pasta - Once again, the presentation of the dish is excellent. The serving of salmon it came with was quite generous i must say. However, the salmon didn't taste fresh yet again, just like the seafood in my baked rice. I would have really liked if they could give reasonably fresh seafood for their dishes, because the pasta tasted pretty well done as did the rice. Maybe the chef's specialty is actually in these instead of seafood? Because it sure tasted that way. The pasta was springy and had enough seasoning to make it taste slightly salty yet not overbearing. Needless to say, the pasta was finished but the salmon remained.

Tiramisu ($5.90) - This disappointed me to no end. I wanted a good dessert to end the rather mundane dinner offering but it just didn't do the dessert justice. The top layer was way too soft and watery as was the bottom layer. The rum soaked and completely destroyed the cake layer beneath and worse, the rum didn't taste like rum at all! This has got to be the worst tiramisu i've had thus far. Do NOT try it.

Not shown is my gf's dessert which is also equally bad. Mango ice cream from a really bad manufacturer i suspect. Not worth mentioning as well.

Total bill for 2 came up to $42.20

I like the place and the lack of service charge and GST. I also like the rice and spaghetti but the seafood really didn't do anything for me in the meal except make me sigh in disappointment. The dessert served was outrageously bad as well and the lack of iced water is simply a sin. Service was nice but difficult to get and given the bad seafood, the price to pay for this 'Blissful' meal simply wasn't worth it.